In a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz warned that the Gang of Eight immigration plan would prompt a flood of illegal immigration — 20 million or 30 million undocumented workers within the next decade or two.

When asked by the conservative commentator why Democrats support the Gang of Eight bill, the freshman Republican from Houston said that it is pure politics and that it is a way to create more Democratic voters.

As for the Republican support of the bill, Sen. Cruz said that a lot of the reasoning is political as well. After 2012, many of the political consultants advised that that the way to do better with Hispanic votes is for Republicans to embrace amnesty. Cruz called that political argument “complete nonsense” and said that Washington consultants want “Republicans give up our principles and become Democrats” when it comes to immigration, abortion, and gay marriage.

While the Gang of Eight claims that their bill is not equivalent to amnesty, Cruz said that the legislation is the same as the amnesty provisions signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1986. The federal government granted amnesty for the 3 million people in exchange for securing the border. Amnesty happened, the border was never secured, and now three decades later, around 11 million people are in the country illegally.

Cruz said that the Gang of 8 bill grants legalization now, just like in 1986, and “promises sometime in the future, trust us, wink-wink, we will secure the border.”

Cruz claimed that 68 percent of Hispanic voters in Texas support more border security. In that same poll, Hispanic voters were asked if they support a pathway to citizenship or work permits that do not allow citizenship. The results showed that 46 percent of Hispanic voters in Texas supported work permits without citizenship and only 35 percent supported a pathway to citizenship.

“Over 40 percent of the Hispanics in Texas voted for me in the Senate race, and I was very clear in the race from Day One in opposing amnesty and supporting border security and improving legal immigration,” said Cruz.

The senator repeated his often-repeated line that there is no more enthusiastic advocate of legal immigration in the Senate than he is.

Cruz rejected estimates from the Congressional Budget Office that the immigration bill would significantly reduce the federal deficit.

“If there’s one thing Washington knows how to do, it’s come up with a bogus cost estimates. I mean, we all remember when Obamacare was passed, and we were told it would save money, and we’ve now discovered it’s gonna cost trillions,” said Cruz.

Welfare benefits for illegal immigrants was another financial issue discussed in the interview. Sen. Cruz filed an amendment to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining federal, state, or local welfare, but said that every Democrat on the committee and the Republican members of the Gang of Eight voted against it.

“I think we should welcome immigrants from across the globe, but you cannot welcome immigrants with a full welfare state where the incentive is to be dependent on government. We want people coming here who want to achieve the American dream,” said Cruz.

When Limbaugh mentioned that illegal immigrants would be exempt from benefits or Obamacare, Cruz said that it could affect who small business owners hire. If you hire an American or a legal immigrant, you are subject to a $2,000 fine per employee if you are not providing health care under Obamacare. The fine could be avoided by hiring illegal immigrants who are not subject to Obamacare.

The freshman senator said that America has faced a massive spike in illegal immigration in this past year and that discussion of amnesty always acts as an incentive for people to cross the border.

Cruz told Limbaugh that about 20 Republican senators are still on the fence about how to vote for the immigration bill. The reason that Obama’s gun proposals were killed is because hundreds of thousands of Americans slammed the phones lines, according to Cruz. He urged citizens to call their senators and do the same thing for the immigration bill.

“There is nothing more powerful than the conservative grass roots when we are engaged and letting our voice be heard,” said Cruz.